Concerns raised over staff levels at Shropshire hospitals

It comes as thousands of NHS jobs are being advertised across the UK, suggesting a shortage of qualified doctors and nurses.

Jobs site Adzuna said there were 12,000 health vacancies advertised in April in the UK, five times as many as Tesco and seven times more than McDonald's.

Peter Herring, chief executive of the trust that controls Royal Shrewsbury and Telford's Princess Royal Hospital said: "Nurse staffing levels are an ongoing concern across the trust; particularly in relation to the increasing reliance on agency staff to fill shifts and the inconsistency of attendance in booked agency staff attending for duty.

"Recruitment continues following the visit by the trust to the Philippines during March with the 72 nurses interviewed and appointed in the process of being professionally registered and competency tested.

"The heads of nursing and midwifery, matrons and ward managers monitor actual versus planned staffing levels across the trust on a daily basis to ensure that appropriate action is taken to mitigate risk when there are staffing shortfalls."

In a report presented to the trust's board at a meeting held at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on Thursday, it was identified as part of the operating plan for 2015/16 that addressing nurse staffing levels is a key focus.

Debbie Vogler, director of business and enterprise at the trust, said: "Addressing the nurse staffing challenges has been and continues to be a key focus for the corporate and operational teams.

"A recruitment trajectory has been identified and the trust is working hard to achieve this plan.

"The overseas recruitment campaign has resulted in the appointment of more than 90 staff nurses. The trust's healthcare assistant programme has also been very successful and over 70 additional staff have been appointed.

"Continuing these initiatives and building on this work is a key focus for the trust to support the delivery of quality care.

Andrew Hunter of Adzuna said: "The NHS is far more of a national institution than many people realise. It's a dominant UK employer, but such a significant hiring spree could signal a gap in the skills of UK employees, with a shortage of qualified doctors and nurses.

"If people in the UK don't have the right skills, they simply can't take up these positions.

"To really reduce unemployment, the new government will need to focus on upskilling our workforce."